Thirsty work:Barnaby Joyce at the rugby.Supplied
If Joyce is nervous about the vote he wasn’t showing it at the rugby at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday night where the Waratahs somehow lost to the top-of-the-table Blues in the last minute of play. The member for New England enjoyed the match in the corporate hospitality area (which included Rugby Australia chairmanHamish McLennanand NSW Rugby directorKerry Chikarovski)where he availed himself of an entire tray of beer and wine for the second half.
Showing admirable restraint,Joyce didn’t finish them all.
Leichhardt’s old school technology meant Joyce’s face wasn’t broadcast on the,er,medium screen during the match.
Probably for the best givenScott Morrison was booed by Swans fans when he popped up at the SCG on Friday night as he watched the Swans defeat Richmond. Meanwhile,Anthony Albanese and partnerJodie Haydon trekked to Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday to watch the Prime Minister’s beloved Rabbitohs take on the Wests Tigers. Albanese and Haydon were wearing Rabbitohs scarves and seated next to former South Sydney captainMario Fenech. Albo arrived at Homebush in a jubilant mood;earlier in the day he triumphed at the end of a spot of tennis in Marrickville.
JBish takes a rocky road
Former Minister for Foreign Affairs and deputy PM Julie Bishop has not had to rely on her former Liberal Party connections for her next big gig. As of Friday she is now in a commercial partnership with American make up brand Estee Lauder,where she reveals her five secrets to happiness,in aVogue Australia video.
“I’m no Nigella but I can whip up a mean rocky road,” she proclaims as she makes sweet confection (chopped up Tim Tams,marshmallows etc.) and then bites into it – eating more chocolate than she likely ever consumed in her entire time in politics.
“It’s not all loungewear and Netflix,” she says of her new life,good news for her academic colleagues at the Australian National University,where she is chancellor.
Christian speakers circuit is calling
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison and former Hillsong Church pastor Brian Houston.Getty,NYT
Following PentecostalScott Morrison’s tearful address at his Horizon Church in Sutherland last Sunday,there’s been whispers that the former prime minister could make a fortune on the lucrative Christian speakers circuit,should he decide to leave politics.
The US-based Christian Speakers network as well as the All American Speakers bureau offer as much as $US30-50,000 as “live speaking fee” plus travel costs,or “virtual speaking fees” of $US10-$20,000 for “motivational” Christian addresses such as the one he gave last week quoting the Bible passageHabakkuk 3:17.
He only needs to take a look at his friend and former Hillsong pastorBrian Houston’s Instagram account for inspiration of the places he could go. Houston and wifeBobbi have been pictured this month sniffing tulips in Amsterdam,eating homemade sausages in Germany,and at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.
Although the former PM has distanced himself from his fellow evangelical after he resigned from the church over allegedly inappropriate behaviour towards two women,it seems Houston’s European Hillsong congregation has not. “I am so grateful to God for all these beautiful European pastors who have treated Bobbi and I with such kindness,” the mega-church founder told his 703,000 Insta flock.
Thai King honours Aussie ambo
Australian Ambassador to ThailandAllan McKinnonsure seems to have made an impression on the locals in his three-and-a-half year tenure in Bangkok.
So much so,that Thai kingMaha Vajiralongkorn has just named the street on which the Australian embassy is situated,Soi Arun McKinnon. This will give the veteran public servant something special to boast of in the tea room when he gets back to Canberra.
The king has deep Australian links – he studied at King’s School in Sydney and at Royal Military College in Duntroon – that’s in Canberra too.
The fact that McKinnnon hosted the monarch at the Bangkok embassy last year for a screening of an Australian government-made doco about Vajiralongkorn’s time in Australia,wouldn’t have done the ambassador’s royal standing any harm,either.
But the diplomat was confronted with more than his share of tricky situations during his posting.
With McKinnon right in the middle of the negotiations with the cops in March about getting the body of deceased cricket legendShane Warne home.
The detention in 2019 ofHakeem Al-Araibi,the Bahraini-born Australian footballer and refugee detained by Thai authorities – on an Interpol red notice – sparked a diplomatic crisis that would have been no picnic for McKinnon either.
So you wouldn’t begrudge the man the king’s high honour.
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